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A drop of eleven per cent in the total value of auctions: This was announced by iDealwine, the world's leading platform for online wine auctions and the largest French wine auction house, in its review of 2023. At 48 auctions, 214,000 bottles were auctioned off, the equivalent of 222,000 0.75-litre bottles. This is an increase of twelve per cent, the highest since the house was founded in 2000, with the number of wines from Burgundy growing by over 21 per cent and those from Bordeaux by over ten per cent.
The price decline for wines from Burgundy, which began in September 2022, continued. The average price fell by 35 per cent to 250 euros. The "Big 8" were particularly affected: Rayas, Leroy, Auvenay, Rousseau, Roumier, Bizot, Lachaux and Grange des Pères. They returned to 2021 levels and even reached pre-pandemic levels for some vintages. Nevertheless, Burgundy remains the leading region with over 40 per cent of the value of all wines traded.
Rhône wines were also auctioned 28 per cent cheaper at an average of 119 euros per bottle, while Bordeaux remained almost the same at 131 euros per bottle. Overall, the average price for an auctioned bottle of wine fell by 22 per cent from 194 euros to 152 euros. As a result, the total value of the auctions also fell by 11.7 per cent to 33.8 million euros. On the other hand, the value of bottles sold at fixed prices rose by 18 per cent.
Bordeaux, Burgundy and Rhône accounted for over 81 per cent of the auction value, two per cent less than in 2022, but their volume grew by 13 per cent. Smaller French regions such as Auvergne, Savoy, Corsica and Provence grew in volume. Non-French wines accounted for 12,627 bottles (5.7 %), of which 7,667 were from Italy (+ 37.5 %). The value of Italian wines rose by 31.5 per cent, but their average price fell to 100 euros (-4.4 %). Half of all Italian wines auctioned come from Piedmont, but the most expensive is the Tuscan Sassicaia. This puts Italy in second place ahead of Spain, the USA and Germany.
796 bottles of German wines were auctioned, 83 per cent of which were dry white wines. At 1,414 euros, a 2018 Piesport Schubertslay Alte Reben GG Riesling from the Keller***** winery was the most expensive German wine sold. The auction value of Keller's wines totalled 6,282 euros, that of Egon Müller-Scharzhof 7,639 euros. This puts Müller in eleventh place in the list of the most sought-after foreign wineries (excluding Italy) and Keller in 13th place.
Other trends include the increase in the value of dry white wines, which have risen by 19 per cent. This is also their share of the total auction volume. Sparkling wines, including champagne, increased by 15 per cent. The proportion of organic wines rose from 25 to 28.5 per cent, while the proportion of natural wines remained stable at 6.5 per cent. However, most of the most expensive wines such as Domaines de la Romanée-Conti, d'Auvenay, Leroy and Leflaive are produced organically or biodynamically. For the first time in 2023, the majority of buyers on iDealwine no longer came from France (59 per cent). This trend has intensified since the beginning of 2024. Italy, Korea, Singapore and the USA are among the most dynamic countries.
(al / source: iDealwine)